Jackson Pollock at the Picasso Museum, journey to the land of first fruits – Libération

The Parisian museum is devoting an exhibition to the American artist and his early career, when he was moving towards abstract expressionism and was particularly influenced by the famous Spanish painter.

One day, in the post-war period, Matisse showed Picasso and his wife Françoise Gilot catalogs sent by his son, Pierre, an art dealer in New York. There are reproductions of paintings by Jackson Pollock, then 35 years old. He begins to practice dripping, this technique consisting of projecting paint onto the canvas placed on the ground, without attachments, like a patient on the couch subjected to the jets of the unconscious. “I have the impression that I am incapable of judging this type of painting, says Matisse, for the simple reason that we cannot objectively judge what comes after us. We know how to appreciate the masters of the past, and even the contemporaries. Among the young people, I understand a painter who has not completely forgotten me, even if he goes beyond me. But from the moment it no longer refers to what, for me, is painting, I no longer understand it.” For him it is difficult “to understand a style that lies beyond your point of arrival. When we manifest ourselves, the movement of the paint contains us for a moment, absorbs us, and we perhaps add a link to the chain. Then, the story continues, overtakes us, rejects us, and we no longer understand. He is polite, Matisse.

Picasso, who is not and who never feels overwhelmed by anything or anyone, takes on a sarcastic look and responds: “What wisdom! This is junk Buddhism! I completely disagree, and I don’t care if I can judge or not.